Their Eyes Were Watching God Relationships

A relationship is a positive or negative connection with another person. In life, everyone will cross paths with another individual that is going to boost them or tear them down piece by piece. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neal Hurston, a woman is involved in three marriages that drastically change her heart and mind.
The main character by the name of Janie Mae first marriage came about as a setup from her grandmother. She was married to a much older man named Logan Killicks. Janie despised every second of having to be forced to marry Logan. The relationship they shared was very distant and depressing. There was no love put into the relationship which is one thing Janie longed for. Janie even told her grandmother one morning, “I’d rather be shot with tacks than to turn over in the

bed and stir up the air whilst he is in there.” By telling her grandmother this, Janie was saying she no longer wanted to be married to Mr. Killicks another day. She could not stand the relationship they had built together. This relationship had done only one thing for Janie and that was destroying her every day they were together. Janie felt how much their arrangement together had weakened her soul and confused her about the real meaning of love. At this time as the reader we realize that Janie is no longer a child, but has now grown into a woman with a broken aspiration of finding love in marriage. Janie decided to run off with a man by the name of Jody Starks.
Nevertheless, Janie and Jody were married soon after they met each other which seems bizarre at first, but they felt they were in love. They moved to a town where Joe became the mayor soon after arriving. Janie started to feel like this was the relationship she had been longing for. But, after being married longer and longer to Joe she realized that this wasn’t what she desired at all. The relationship between Joe and Janie became one sided. Joe wanted to control everything she did, every second of the day. Janie started to feel as if she was nothing but merely a puppet controlled by him. The relationship they had formed together succumbed her to a life where she had little importance. But, one day Jody fell ill and on his dying bed, she told him,” All this bowing down, all disobedience under your voice that isn’t what I rushed off down the road to find out about you.” Janie was certainly not content with her lifestyle. This is a point as a reader, we see that even though Janie was wealthy and known, those two things could not buy her happiness. Before long, Janie became acquainted with another man by the name of Teacake.
Teacake and Janie married a while after her last husband had passed.

However, Teacake was the exact opposite of her last two men, he was broke. The relationship that Tea Cake and Janie formed together was the exact thing she had been looking for. As her husband, he inspired her as a person, embedded her on a pedestal, and was responsible for whatever he could to make sure she was happy every day. The bond that they created is exactly what the author wanted us to comprehend. Love is not about who has the most money or property. Teacake and Janie develop a genuine relationship through their love for each other. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie experienced three very different relationships that remade her as an individual. The first relationship tore her dreams down. The second relationship belittled her and made her feel like she was worth nothing. But, the theme that the author wanted us to take away from the book is love cannot be bought. Janie’s last relationship was positive and loving with a man that was flat out broke. All of the relationships she formed with each of the men led her to the point where she realized what love really meant to

her.